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User blog:Tadano Hitoshi/Ragtag Hustle KanColle Edition: The "Second Pocky War"- Action report.
Filed by: V.ADM Hitoshi Tadano, Hashirajima Anchorage Date: 11th November 2016 ACTION REPORT: "The Pocky War" Wargame On this date, last year, there had been an unprecedented incident that almost threatened the internal safety of this naval base and the overall integrity of the fleets I am in charge of. It was caused by something they called "Pocky Day". ... Whoever thought of that as a real thing and made it popular, '''please let me take your life. I will make it very quick... though messy with this Light Fifty of mine.' ''Even though I managed to handle it swiftly last year, with the rapid expansion and rise of many shipgirls making it past the Nineties, plus looking at the current list of Ninety-Niners... and Haruna as well, despite getting the ring, it didn't stop her from still wanting to join in the scuffle as well... all things combined, I am fearing for an even bigger scale of chaos compared to last year's. "But Admiral, it could be a good opportunity for an exercise this year, don't you think so?" Or so what Ooyodo said... She has a point. With Ooyodo and Kashima helping me formulate a game plan, I managed to get a hold of the current situation of the fleet that would lead to the 'war'. Thanks to the submarines doing their monitoring on the girls as well, I got sufficient intel on the sides planning to take part in the war(game). -- 'Factions' 'The Battleship Row' First and foremost, the one group who're the most idle in this naval base due to how I have been out due to other shore businesses and my preference to send cruisers and carriers as my heaviest task force for most everyday operations... and even then I ended up being even busier during my shore duty I only sortie once per week at average. Lately there have been some... curious individuals from the battleships, luckily for me a good half of them are in control I suppose. * Haruna: "Haruna will not give it up this time as well!"" * Mutsu: "Ufu♥ This Onee-san is not willing to give it up this year too~" * Kongou: "YES! That is the spirit, Haruna!" * Bismarck: "Admiral! You should feel thankful for it is I, Bismarck, who will instruct you from the basics! Starting from your rear. A man should not have a rear more shapely than a woman's!" * Iowa: "Admiral, you still owe me a one night stand from back then, you know." * Yamashiro: "Admiral, I assure you I and Onee-sama were here not because we wanted to. They roped us in... such misfortune." * Fusou: "Now, now... let's not be too down about it, Yamashiro. Let's do our best as well..." The Carrier Fleet Not willing to lose to the battleships were them, the fleet carriers were now reinforced with the full might of what would have been Nagumo's fighting force during Midway - and with equipment that will make even the V.Adm. Nagumo at that time be green with envy - granted, what we have here are mostly new aircraft that never made it to production in his time. With Akagi at the helm of their task force, everyone else going up against them is not going to have a good time. Kaga and Zuikaku are two shipgirls on my red alert list from them. Over at my side, I only have Taihou, Unryuu and Graf Zeppelin supporting me... for some reason Aquila thought it'd be fun to join Akagi's task force, does she not know why they're in this whole big furball of chaos to begin with? Either way I should feel glad I managed to get the Akizukis on my side, but these three forming the AA screen against a cloud of bombers is going to be a handful for them. "Don't worry Admiral. I will teach her a lesson before she can even make her move. It still stands that I am the only carrier who can strike in the middle of the night, she will not be able to react." Thanks Graf for your willingness to help... but seriously, I'd still prefer the submarines for a night time strike. * Akagi: "With the full might of the Carriers, we will not let anyone stop us! Right, Kaga''-san''?" * Kaga: "Despite Haruna-''san'' being the Admiral's choice for the Supreme Flagship... we will not hold * back either. All for the Admiral's li-- I mean, a Pocky Game with him..." * Shoukaku: (Don't hold it against me, okay Admiral? I'm here to support everyone, especially Zuikaku. Fufu.) * Zuikaku: "He-hennn!!! Admiral-san! It's high time you started looking at me, all right!? I already know what you like!" * Souryuu: "This feels like it'd be fun~! ♪" * Hiryuu: "Somehow I feel like the Admiral's going to be really angry with this... but oh well! I really want to see that." (Fairy: Hiryuu-dono, you definitely did not see how he handled last year's Pocky madness. You definitely don't want to be in his reticles... ever.) * Aquila: "Pocky Game...? I get to show off to the Admiral what I can do? Nice, nice! I think I'll join up with Akagi and the rest~!" The Night Raiders Sendai and her usual antics... now joined by even more ships to her cause. Kiso being her comrade is something, but to have the other deadly night combatants on her side as well... I dread having to face them in the middle of the night. Approaching them with the carriers available on my side is going to be a problem since they have Maya there. Battleships will have to take care of them during the day because at night they're just as vulnerable as any other ships against the cruisers. Not to mention thanks to my focus on night combat capability, this group is the MOST troublesome due to their numbers AND ability alone... * Sendai: "It's time for night battles~" * Kiso: (Well then. How are you going to take care of all of us this time, Admiral? We have numbers and we have the night.) * Maya: "Heh, try to send bombers over here y'all." * Ooi: "Admiral, you're not going to pretend I and Kitakami''-san'' are not here any longer. I'm going to teach you a lesson." * Kitakami: "Well, well, chill out Ooi''-cchi''. He's not going anywhere~" * Yahagi: "Ufu, don't take us light cruisers lightly, Admiral." * Agano: "Yahagi, hold up~! I also want to join in!" * Noshiro: "Yahagi, Agano''-nee'', stop!!" (Admiral is going to be furious with this...) * Sakawa: "Wai~t! Sakawa wants to join too~!" * Atago: "Fufu♥ You're not going to run away, Admiral~ let's have a Pocky Game shall we?" * Takao: (Atago... even if you're the most senior heavy cruiser of the fleet... the Admiral isn't going to be happy about all this...) * Kawakaze: "All right! A night battle fest after such a long time!" * Ayanami: (Uuu, Commander, forgive me... I tried, but I can't really go against Sendai-san...) The Wolf Pack Compared to last year, this year's Ashigara is more aware of what she wants from me instead of being the dense woman she was. And somehow manages to get even more shipgirls to her side, too. Probably getting Tone's aid last year gave her an idea how to utilize seaplane air wings to her advantage. Thankfully I have Myoukou and Haguro to lead the OPFOR against them. Though, this is quite a large seaplane wing I have to counter... I mean, '''six seaplane-carrying cruisers!?' But nothing that I cannot ask Hiyou and Junyou with the three Akizukis as the AA screen to take care of, however.'' * Ashigara: "Admiral! This time let's have a Pocky Game for real! Between you and me!" * Tone: "Such child's play... h-huh? That kind of game, thou spake? A-anyway, Ashigara! Keep thy hands off mine planes!" * Chikuma: "To think I'd return to the base for this kind of game... Hehe, Tone-''neesan'' looks pretty spirited herself to join, I suppose. Now, let's gauge the battlefield~" * Nachi: "Admiral. Believe me, I'm only here because Ashigara asked me to. ... N-no, she definitely did not promise me three visits to Houshou's worth of awamori for it. No, no. She didn't. Again, believe me. ... Please don't tell big sis Myoukou." * Yuudachi: "Pocky Game-poi! Pocky Game-poi! Admiral''-san!'' Let's have Pocky Game this year too!" * Shigure: (Of course we had to end up with Ashigara-san's team again this year, don't we?) * Pola: "Ehehe... Ashigara said she'll take me out with Nachi to taste various Japanese sake... I am looking forward to it~!" * Zara: "Polaaaa! Stop right theeeeeerrreeee!" * Mogami: "I don't really get it, but somehow Ashigara's really insistent that we help her." * Mikuma: "Likewise..." * Suzuya: "Pocky Game? Hmm... Admiral's a pretty popular guy for them up there ain't he. ... Somehow Suzuya's getting curious." * Kumano: "Pocky... Game...? Is this one of the regular folks' games...? I hear it's pretty popular..." -- 'Countermeasures and action' Luckily, as the seasons passed, I managed to get some shipgirls I can count on when something like this happens. Battleships * Yamato: (For one, I am glad the Admiral trusts me to take the helm. I am fine with this, fufufu.) * Nagato: "Mutsu. Even if it's you, unfortunately the Admiral would not allow such chaos to ensue. So I will have to stop you and everyone else taking part in this chaos." * Warspite: (I must say, this wargame feels strange...) * Hiei: "E, eheh... I'm sorry Kongou onee-sama, Haruna, but if we don't stop you, Commander... will be angry... (shivers)" * Kirishima: "I'm sorry for this too, Kongou onee-sama. But Commander... isn't really liking the whole idea behind this fiasco..." Fleet Carriers * Graf Zeppelin: "Hm. To have me lead the front against the full might of the best carrier fleet... this is quite the compliment you are giving me. But... I feel we're lacking a bit here. Either way... both Aquila and Bismarck will need quite some talking to be given." * Unryuu: "This is quite the disparage indeed... but I don't intend to lose to Akagi-''san'' and company." * Taihou: "Uuhhh... it'll be all right, I guess? A-anyway, it's not like I have no confidence with the strength of my air arm against the rest of the Mobile Fleet..." Light Carriers * Hiyou: "The full strength of the Mobile Force against us and the only other three standard fleet carriers we have on our side, we really can't afford any gaps in the CAP can we." * Junyou: "True that, but well, let's just get them all in the air and cover as much space as we can, shall we? It's not like we're short of planes and fairies good enough to take them on." * Ryuujou: "I get da feelin' we'd be more on da' defense so dat dem otha ships can get 'em. And there's da Akizukis helpin' too so... we're good, aye?" * Chitose: (That was close... Ashigara-san almost got me with the 'free beer' offer. I hope Chiyoda doesn't know I almost fell for it... because she'd complain to the Admiral. Tehe.) * Chiyoda: (Chitose-onee, you're not going to tell me you got an invitation for a drinking night for you to join their side aren't you!?) Heavy Cruisers * Choukai: (And so I'm the only one among my sisters to side with Commander-san... and he has quite the high expectation from me too. Yikes...) * Myoukou: "Ashigara... after this we're going to have a really nice and long talk." * Haguro: (Auuu... Ashigara nee-san, Myoukou nee-san is getting really angry right about now...) * Prinz Eugen: "I don't know what Bismarck nee-sama is thinking but I at least know the Admiral doesn't like what she's been up to... I-I must stop her!" Light Cruisers * Ooyodo: (Even though I suggested to the Admiral to make this a war game... honestly, I would've preferred if we could just make it a "Admiral's going to play it with everyone, those interested please get in line"... but Admiral doesn't seem to be too keen on that himself. It seems he has a lot of weight on his mind.) * Jintsuu: "Nee-san, Yahagi''-san'', I will have to stop you both..." * Abukuma: "Yasen this, yasen that... honestly if she could help the expeditioners do their job it'd be a relief." * Naka: "Uuuuh, Naka's not here because the Admiral needs help, okay? But Jintsuu-''chan'' looks like she'd be angry if I don't help. Ah, Agano-''chan'' is also on the other side, I guess this'll be a fun showdown~" Destroyers * Kasumi: "Honestly, I can't believe this base is housing so many unruly shipgirls, not to mention a good number of them are capital ships of all things... that Commander is giving them too much slack." * Asashio: "Kasumi. I believe Commander has a good reason for that. For now let us focus on the mission the Commander gave us - stopping them." * Akizuki: "Commander! My sisters and I will give our all in providing the best anti-air defense for the fleet!" * Teruzuki: "Admiral! Akizuki-''nee'', Hatsuzuki and I will do our best too!" * Hatsuzuki: "Hm. To be facing my former flagships and their planes... this is truly one kind of a wargame to be enlisted in." Submarines * I-168: "All righty, fellow submariners. We have a lot of targets to pick... and a lot of obstacles to avoid. Remember Commander's instructions." * I-8: "This time around, things are getting interesting." * I-19: "Hey, hey, I hear that Italian aircraft carrier is also with the Mobile Fleet." * I-58: "She is? Probably trying to prove herself among them and the Admiral." * Ro-500: "Even then I don't really think she'll be acting in unison with them, it's almost like she's her own faction. Well, since part of her motives include the Admiral I suppose we'll nab her first. After all none of the participants of the Mobile Fleet can notice us anyway." * I-26: "Agreed." * Maruyu: "As usual I'm the observer for the submarines... but there's also the task of acting as a picket so yeah... I'll need to do my best." 'Action Report' Prior to the start of the wargame One of the first intel to arrive was the movement of Aquila, apparently not acting in concert with the rest of the Carrier Fleet. She had moved alone in the night, believed to be an attempt to get a jump-start, probably with the intention of launching her airstrikes on the first sight of sunrise. Graf had initially requested that she deal with her first via a night ambush, but I advised her to stand down because despite being able to strike in the night unlike Aquila, she isn't as efficient as the dedicated night-time strikers... who are all rallied under Sendai. And I need Choukai's company to deal with that AND the Wolf Packs later on as well. All things considered, there's a card I can pull on her trying to solo it where she won't even notice - the submarines, of course. And so. Aquila: (Nice, nice, the waters look quiet tonight, time to get into a nice position so that I can launch early as soon as I see sunri-- wa-wait, what? Those trails on the water...) Surrounding her were several wakes heading in her direction. Aquila: "T-torpedoes!? Oh no, full turn to starboar-- Oh no, I won't make it--nonononoNONONONO AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Suffering several direct hits, Aquila soon finds herself dead in the water. Aquila: "Mugyugyugyu..." I-168: "Wasted for the night, eh Aquila-''san''?" Aquila: (sighing) "Say that to Pola-''chan'' after you girls nab her, please... Uuu, the Admiral is so mean, sending submarines to lay in ambush against me alone..." I-168: "Believe me, getting taken down by us first beforehand is better than having the Admiral fire rubber bullets to your head when you cannot see him." Aquila: "Mmmuuu~" (pouts) AQUILA'S STATUS: WASTED Wargame start - Against the Carrier Fleet The following morning, the wargame began in earnest. As predicted, Akagi's team made their first move. True to their battle doctrine, their planes appeared over the horizon without they themselves visible over the radars. My instructions to Graf was to coordinate their movements with aircraft from our shore bases as their CAP. Defenders' advantage, I say. Knowing Akagi would choose to begin her attacks around this time of the day, I had to make Graf instruct her fellow carriers to launch in advance with fighter escorts and maintain high altitude in their search for the former's formation, and to that end I had them scrambled into small groups in hopes that one of them will eventually find Akagi's task force and rally the rest to flank her fleet in multiple directions - and most importantly, above them. Such a dispersal can be quite risky when they are very near the carriers' fleet - their CAP is very fierce indeed. There's a probability for one of the dispersed groups to be downed before they can transmit the whereabouts of Akagi's fleet. Graf Zeppelin: "A squadron of our dive bombers have spotted Akagi's fleet right below them, they are attacking now-- hmm? Oh. Admiral, it seems we managed to achieve our first strike, but the CAP is fierce as you have said." -- Akagi: "From right above!?" Souryuu: "Why does it have to be the flight deck again!? It hurts!" -- Ryuujou: "Say, Admiral... dis awfully's smellin' like ya givin' her another Midway... didja plan dat far ahead?" Well, what do I say. "'Tis a mere coincidence." Even then, the struggle to wrest air control from her fleet is very fierce, indeed. Considering the fragility of the light carriers and the heavy concentration of air attacks against Graf who they managed to identify as the flagship, only Taihou sustained scratches while the rest suffered at least minor damages. Graf managed to get away with moderate damage. Akizuki and Teruzuki did a really good job in providing the AA screen for the team, though they also suffered minor damage. Akagi's fleet attempted to retreat by dusk, but thankfully the submarines managed to slip by their formation and stopped some of them in their tracks, and sure enough they were now immobile come nightfall. Realizing the situation now weighs heavily against her fleet, Akagi signalled her white flag, and that was witnessed by Maruyu acting as a picket, acting in unison with the rest of the submariners. Akagi: "To not only be able to wrestle our air superiority away from us, but trapping and rendering us as sitting ducks for the submarines, Admiral... you're truly the man I and Kaga-''san'' yearn for." Zuikaku: "Uuuu... I cannot accept this! This is way too humiliating! Despite all the best hardware we've got...! Admiral-''san'' you jerk...!!!" Kaga: "A defeat is a defeat... you have to learn how to take it well, Zuikaku. This is a wargame after all." Carrier Fleet status: (Dive)Bombed (from above) Against the Battleship Row It was rather unfortunate that I could not stop Haruna from joining in the fray. Also it seems I did shower the battleships with too much attention, some of them are getting way over their heads. Particularly two of the foreigners. With Akagi's fleet being put out of commission for the time being, the battleships make their audacious entry into the fray. The thing with battleships was that they more often than not take as much punishment their arsenal of weapons could dish out. With the threat of possible interference from Akagi's air wing eliminated, the seaplane fighters and bombers took off from Fusou as well as the other battleships' reconnaissance planes. Well, if anything, someone inside there is forgetting I can deny them the air control they need to dish out their deadly strikes via artillery spottings. Never mind that sending bombers against them would actually be kind of hard due to the sheer amount of AA screen they can make by sticking close together. For starters, we're talking about the biggest ship class around - which also means they pack more AA weapons than everyone else, stacked on themselves. For the time being let's just deny them the air and let them come down to a brawl. ... And for some reason, some of the shipgirls in the base were really excited to see how this battle pans out. Can't deny I am curious to see why, though. -- Iowa: "Fufu~n. To have the greatest JAPANESE BATTLESHIP as my match right here... the Admiral sure thinks of everything. I've got a lot of things to ask, too. Maybe we can get along after this." Yamato (cracking a fake smile): "Fufu... yes, yes. I, too, have a lot of questions to ask you..." Iowa: "... Y'know, somehow I don't feel I'm talking to the you who are you. Geddit? I mean, you seem unusually mad, when for the most part you look like a calm and levelheaded girl. Did I make you angry for whatever reason...?" Right after she said it, Iowa found herself having to dodge a sudden incoming shell to the side. Iowa: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait, hey, watch it!" Yamato (still having her fake smile plastered on): "How about you try to find out for yourself...?" -- Nagato: "Mutsu. What are you thinking, joining the aggressors in this mess of a wargame?" Mutsu: "Well... before I knew it, things turned out to be like this. But if with this I can impress him, I'm more than willing to show him my mettle. I'm a battleship, and part of the World's Big Seven like you after all. Fufufu. ♥" Nagato: "What a foolish thought..." Mutsu: "Nuh-uh. I've been in the base far much longer than you did, Nagato. I arrived at a time where he was calling to the heavens for you, Nagato, but I came here instead. Right, it was me who answered his calls, and I bore witness to our first despair born of defeat in the hands of that Abyssal, despite doing everything in our power to fight them to a standstill." Nagato: "... I'm not sure if I'm following you here, other than getting the story about your first major operation." Mutsu: "But surely you did not miss the part where I say I'll show him my mettle when I want to impress him, did you? Now would be a good time for me to show off, as one of the first generations of this base's Onee-san of this base. You and me, Nagato... help me show off to Admiral, okay?" Nagato: "This is getting ridiculous... All right, I will play along. But don't expect me to hold back. We're both battleships on opposing sides. Come at me, and don't you dare hold back either!" Mutsu (taking a deep breath): "Thanks... Big Sis. Now then~" -- Hiei: "Onee-sama, Haruna, I'm so sorry... just as much I'd like to support you I can't go against the Commander either!! Ugh, what a dilemma!!!" Kongou: "It's OK, Hiei! Just think of this as something we sisters do together! After all it's not often we square off in an exercise against each other! Besides, Haruna here..." Haruna: "Haruna won't let up!" Kirishima: "It's time for a MIC CHECK!" Kongou: "Well, as you can see ♪" Hiei: "Such high spirits... oh well, Hiei too will...! Give! Her! Best!" Kongou: "That's the spirit-''NE''!" -- Graf Zeppelin: "Bismarck. You better have a good reason for this." Bismarck: "Oh, so you're with the Admiral, hmm? You're a really pesky aircraft carrier." Graf Zeppelin: "We were supposed to be allies against the Allies... at least in the war back then. Having to face the famed you as my opposition right now gives me such a funny feeling." Prinz Eugen: "H-hwaa, Bismarck onee-sama, Graf, let's not fight, o-okay? I'm pretty sure the Admiral will be happier if we just back out of this..." Bismarck: "Prinz Eugen! You were supposed to be backing me up! Why are you taking sides with that carrier!?" Prinz Eugen: "A-Admiral's orders! Onee-sama too... (in a low voice) y-you probably shouldn't check on the Admiral's... rears... way so often, he looks pretty uncomfortable everytime you do it..." Bismarck (getting flustered): "W-what do you mean!? It's just that his rear is too shapely for a man! What kind of man is he to be born with such hips!? I'm just making sure that he really is a man, because men do not have those kinds of hips! Why are you stopping me!?" (beat) Graf, Prinz (facepalming): (Oh, how the mighty and haughty have fallen. God have mercy on our nation's past.) Bismarck: "W-w-w-what, did I say something wrong?" Graf Zeppelin (sighing): "Say no more, Bismarck. Say no more. For all your talk about lack of discipline in other places we've been... it seems you are the one who needs it most. I'' shall instruct you from the basics." '''Bismarck:' "Eh? Er, er?" Prinz Eugen (sighing): "I'm sorry, onee-sama. But if I don't do this you won't come back to your senses..." Bismarck: "Eh? Eh? Both of you... you're making scary faces... wai--" Graf Zeppelin: "All bombers, launch NOW." Prinz Eugen: "All guns to port!" Bismarck: "W-w-w-wait! No! Nein! ... Damn it, all guns to starboard, flaks be ready!!! I don't want a repeat of my Rheinübung ending!!!" -- Meanwhile, on yet another side of the spectacle. Fusou, Yamashiro: "..." Admiral: "..." Fusou: "Admiral... I guess, we're in agreement, right...?" Admiral: "Figures. You two can disarm and go back to port now, after that you are free to go about your own business... but be there as I debrief everyone... and every single little shit out there making this mess to begin with." Yamashiro (sweatdrops): (He's angry, all right... such misfortune...) Fusou: (Well... at least he seems to be sparing us...) Yamashiro: (I guess so...) -- Battleship Row status: ' * '... Battered ships? /ba dum fail * (Aviation battleships Fusou and Yamashiro retired from battle, surrendered to the Admiral) Against The Night Raiders Now this was one problematic team to deal with. They have double the numbers of the carriers and the battleships, they have stealth, and they're just waiting out for the right time to strike - the night time. Reconnaissance aircraft had to fly at high altitudes because there's Maya down there waiting to obliterate them once they get into range, and this is making spotting very hard. True enough, the reconnaissance aircraft returned with no results to show at all. Graf Zeppelin: "My apologies, Admiral... we've sent out all of our available aircraft to search as far as possible. But we found nothing..." And let's not forget what's going on underwater, too. ... Which pretty much came back with the same thing. I-168: "Commander, we're sorry... it seems Sendai-''san'' is somehow very aware of our movements. We have a general idea of their location, but we're facing light cruisers and some destroyers here, including Sendai-''san'' herself, so it's making reconnaissance difficult. But... we did bring back a defector..." Ayanami: "Umm..." Except maybe not really. -- To put it short, Ayanami defecting from Sendai's faction was a huge advantage, since she knew of the details of Sendai's planning. Turns out they were hiding in a small island just off the shore, waiting out for the night, while keeping watch of any attempts to observe them as evidenced by Maya's presence in the group. Sendai's big game plan was to go out in groups of two once nightfall hits, she leads one and Atago leads the other one. Well, I ain't waiting until night time. -- Kawakaze: "Ey, anyone seen dat Ayanami? I heard she was out for patrol since an hour ago. Shouldn't she be swappin' with me?" Agano: "Hmm~ now that you say it..." Noshiro: "She's missing?" Atago: "Hmm~~ Ayanami-''chan'' has been away for an hour... nowhere to be found... hmm... Oh!" Takao: "Atago? Did you figure something out?" Atago: "Yes~. This is bad, we better go to Sendai-''chan'' and tell her about i--" Maya: "INCOMING!!!" Takao: "Huh, wha-what? Maya, what is happ--" (sounds of shells falling and exploding around them) Maya: "We've been found!!! I was tracking them on radar. Admiral's sending long-range artillery on this island, and we're up against battleships out there, and that Yamato's among them too!!" Atago: "Oh dear... looks like we were too late, it seems we got outed during the whole time Ayanami disappeared..." Maya: "That... little...!!! Oh, ouch!" (gets hit by explosion from an incoming shell) Sendai: "Damn, it's just right in the middle of the day...! Everyone evacuate! Disperse and try to remain until nightfall! Evade the battleships and their shelling!" Ooi: "You make it sound so easy than it actually is!!!" -- Despite the bombardment Sendai's and Atago's group managed to mostly survive. At the very least, we managed to take away their first initiative to launch a surprise attack during the night. Their night-time counter-attack was fierce on the battleships, with them skillfully avoiding night detection and using ambush tactics so I had to pull the battleships away from the battle. Now here comes the part where I put my available night combatants vs that of Sendai's and Atago's combined... Jintsuu: "This will not be the first time we've squared off like this, Sendai nee-san, Yahagi-''san''. I'll stop you this time as well." Sendai: "He~henn. So it will be. Come, Jintsuu-''chan'', let's settle this like sisters." Yahagi: "Noshiro-''nee'', it sure took you a long time to switch sides." Noshiro: "Adding to the fact that I have to basically be your minder as well as Agano-''nee's'', whose fault do you think that is?" -- Naka: "Hmm~ Naka doesn't particularly care about this chaos, but Agano''-chan!'' Let's have a showdown between the two of us!" Agano: "An Idol contest? Agano doesn't feel like losing right here! Kirari~n!" Kawakaze: "Uh, I don't think peeps do 'em around this hour... Whoa! Shiny!" Naka: "Lights on stage, please~!" Kasumi: "Are you kidding me!? We're not here to help you with these! Argh, really now!" Asashio: "Asashio, turning on searchlights, full power! Focusing on Naka-''san'' and Agano-''san'' in the center!" Kasumi: "Asashio-''nee'', not you too!?" -- Choukai: "Myoukou-''san'', I'm sorry for having you take my side for this mess... but looks like I'm the only Takao-class available under Commander-''san's'' command while the rest of my sisters are part of the opposing force..." Myoukou: "Well, we have to make up for the disparage in tonnage somehow, right? Otherwise one heavy cruiser versus three would be troublesome for the Admiral even if it's you, Choukai-''san''." Haguro: "W-we'll do our best to support you, Choukai-''san!'' Let's give our all!" Atago: "Oh, dear... looks like we're going to be up against the naval base's strongest... but I don't intend to lose here as the most senior heavy cruiser in this fleet." Takao (sweatdrops): "Still hung up on that eh, Atago...?" Maya: "Heh, come on! You think you can intimidate this Maya-''sama''!?" -- While the battlefield is lit up with the lights and sounds of naval combat, three of them broke away from it... and confronting them in a shore some ways off the port was me. Kiso: "There you have it. I don't feel like going along with this tomfoolery much longer." Admiral: "Thanks for making it much, much easier for me. Any longer and I'll just send some rounds to your heads." Kiso: "Yeah, being on the receiving end of that again this year will suck." Ooi: "... Of course, we didn't need that furball of chaos just to tell you, Admiral, that we're here. It's about time you stop pretending like we're air." Admiral: "Oh, of course I did. I would rather just leave you to your own devices because honestly, I am not interested in striking up a conversation with someone who's only interested with the other shipgirl next to them, and has quite the sharp tongue when out of anyone's earshot. My obligations to you would include giving you a place in this naval base and ensuring that neither of you sink, and I'll stop there. Now do you see why I tend to ignore you?" Ooi: "Now you've said it, Admiral... that's exactly the one thing I'm angry about with you." Kitakami: "Now, now, Ooi-''cchi''--" Ooi: "Kitakami-''san'', please, let me talk with the Admiral." Kiso: "..." Admiral: "Well? Do you have an objection and want me to notice you more, or you admit those were all true and would rather let me continue to pretend you're not here, while you happily continue your days here like nothing happened?" Ooi: "JUST WHAT DO I DO TO EVEN MAKE YOU REMEMBER I'M RIGHT HERE, IN FRONT OF YOU!?" There was silence. I was being held up by the collar. Admiral: "You want me to court-martial you for insubordination?" Ooi: "I might as well make both of us die here." Admiral: "Except you won't, and I can free myself quite easily and lock your movements and drag you for further interrogation." Ooi: "..." Kitakami: "Look, Ooi-''chi'', just calm the hell down, okay? Admiral too, you're being unreasonably harsh on her so... look, both of you, just chill. Okay?" Kiso: "Admiral. If there's any time you should start fixing things between the two of you, now would be a good time. Ooi, too. For now take a deep breath. And for the love of everything good, seriously, both of you better patch things up." After that, Ooi loosened her grip on my collar as she put me down. ... Yes, all things considered, I did think I was being quite unreasonable with my decision to ignore Ooi's existence for quite a long time. But I wasn't sure on how to start. For some reason, the only one thing I could think of was... bowing my head in apology. Admiral: "... I'm sorry. Not just for your treatment up till now, but I am also sorry for not being able to think of any other better way to go about apologizing to you." Ooi: "..." Kiso: "Well, sis? How do you take that apology of his?" After a moment of thought, Ooi relented. Ooi: "... Fine. But don't think I'll let you off the hook so easily yet. All I wanted you to do was just for you to stop pretending like we're never here. And from this point onwards I'll make sure you become a man of principle." Admiral (still bowing): "..." Kitakami: (This naval base seems to be pretty rich of peculiarities since day one don't you think?) Kiso: (It has. Being from day one myself I can attest to that.) -- Against The Wolf Packs To be honest, I am getting quite weary of this... 'mock-up war' of sorts and I honestly feel it's no good dragging things on for so long, so I suppose I'm going to pull all the tabs and give Ashigara's crew zero chances. While her idea is brilliant, she often forgets that she is fighting a force with raw power superior enough to deal with her strategies without much of an issue. Long story short, I had the carriers and destroyers on air defense available on my side '''completely' decimate her seaplane squadrons led by Tone. That gave her a very devastating shell shock, though, so I had to console her and the rest of the girls who carried seaplanes in their fleet that day. Because right after that I launched a very aggressive forward strike with my battleships and heavy cruisers...'' As much as a fighter Ashigara was, Haguro's superior firepower and Myoukou giving her the coup de grace finally put her down. Well, as I said earlier, not pulling back punches against someone like Ashigara has its consequences... she quickly transformed from a cool, mature lady to a crying little girl after receiving the merciless (simulated) beatdown from my side. Of course, I had to calm her down as well. ... In the cleanest sense of the word, mind. -- -- -- Aftermath Due to it being a large-scale exercise, thankfully it wasn't as messy as when the incident happened before this. Still, I feel the "spirit" of the Pocky Game is still lost with me. It is not an event I consider of much significance compared to the actual cultural celebrations both native to them and me. ... Feelings, huh. There's just so much we can do while skirting around that. One thing for sure, I dare not give my own answers. But if it leads to a point where an event happens to make them turn against humanity... ... I alone will bear the responsibility of putting them down. That, is as much as I can promise myself with them. [ A/N: From November 11 (11/11) to February 2 (2/2). I took waaaaayyyy tooooooo loooooooooonnnnnnggg didn't I? Either way, as it is I'd probably leave Fall 2016 as a footnote somewhere in other entries and... wow, Winter 2017's approaching fast, and I have no slots. But still eager to see new faces. ... Yay.] Category:Blog posts